Sunday, August 20, 2006

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT

SCOMI, the company linked to the Prime Minister's son Kamaluddin Abdullah, gets only 15 per cent of its RM200 million earnings locally.

CEO Shah Hakim Zain said 85 per cent came from projects abroad.

In his Aug 7 interview on TV3, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi stiffly denied that his son had abused his position as the PM's son to get deals for Scomi. "If people ask why go overseas, he (Kamaluddin) will say father (Abdullah) is the prime minister, it's difficult to earn a living locally. His contracts, his business, 80 per cent are from overseas. That is his livelihood," the PM had said.

OK, so the PM said 80 and Shah Hakim said it's 85; it's a variation of just 5 percentage points. But in the name of good corporate governance and accuracy, I thought the Scomi CEO and Mingguan Malaysia did well to set the record straight.

Read the Scomi CEO interview.

9 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:29 pm

    Bru, does this 85 per cent include contracts awarded by Petronas, its subsidiaries and joint-ventures abroad?
    Any and all Petronas-related contracts should be considered a business with the Malaysian Government as Petronas belongs to the Government.
    But if they were obtained via competitive and transparent biddings, who are we to question.

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  2. Does he consider petronas contrct given aborad as local or foreign contract?

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  3. But, is it not the 85% overseas revenue also mainly from the subsidiaries of local companies or GLCs such as Petronas?

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  4. Rocky!


    If we were to believe CEO of Scomi Shah Hakim Zain on how his company make money and profits, then we have also to believe pigs can fly and Winnie the Pooh is real! If we do, Malaysians that is, it is now confirmed beyond any reasonable doubts Malays, especially in Umno, are indeed Morons! Sad!

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  5. hjr, a voice, inmine, I am not sure if the 85 per cent portion includes earnings from projects that are awarded to Scomi by Petronas.

    In his interview, I believe the PM classified those Petronas-related projects as "international" as Scomi had won them through "international bidding".

    Excerpts:

    [Datuk Seri Abdullah said Scomi hardly had business dealings in Malaysia, as 80 per cent of its business came from abroad, and any contracts it had received from national oil company Petronas were won in international bidding.
    "He is not involved in government concessions and has never asked for government help," Datuk Seri Abdullah said.]

    And according to the CEO of Scomi in the interview with Utusan, Petronas projects awarded to Scomi contributed only about 7 per cent of Scomi's total earnings.

    Excerpts:
    [Shah Hakim menambah, projek yang diperoleh di AS merupakan penyumbang utama kepada perolehan Scomi yang berjumlah AS$53 juta (RM196.1 juta).
    Beliau berkata, bercanggah dengan dakwaan ramai, sebanyak 85 peratus daripada pendapatan Scomi datang daripada luar negara manakala bakinya, hanya 15 peratus, adalah di Malaysia.
    Daripada peratusan itu pula, kata beliau, hanya tujuh peratus diperoleh daripada projek-projek yang ditawarkan oleh Petroliam Nasional Bhd. (Petronas) di Malaysia.]

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  6. Rocky!

    Come on! Don't be coy and stop using glib language for some of us out there are not morons. Call spade a spade, even if it is an international contract as clasified by Petronas it is just like saying, once upon a time, a very powerful woman minister who was just sittng at a corner of a room and observing a deliberation on decision to be made on shares to be allocated to whom ever. What hjr, a voice and inmine are saying is thgat yes! Any international bidding for Petronas contract will still be referred to KL, and rest assured a phone call will ensue! Rocky as I said don't be coy and using glib language to us as life is too short!

    Not-a-moron!

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  7. Anonymous10:44 am

    Thank you Bru, I think the confusion arose because the TV3 interview was not professionally conducted and edited.
    Maybe both the interviewer and TV3 editors were not well versed in business.
    So, having our friends helping us or putting our friends in key places does not ensure our well being if they are not professional and not knowledgeable.
    I think professional journalists would have done a better job with the interview and editing of the PM's interview.
    Shah Hakim could have given a more detailed explanation. But maybe he was not asked the correct questions by the Mingguan Malaysia interviewer. Many reporters today lack knowledge, especially in economic affairs.

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  8. Anonymous7:40 pm

    Dear Rocky,

    This joke continues to be on us. Scomi is a UMNO-linked company and at one time was controlled by Anwar's crony Nasaruddin Jalil. After 1998 it was rapidly fading away, until given to Kamal, who in turn put his friend-crony Shah Hakim to be its official face. Kamal has no track record as a succesful businessman - Dewina collapsed when he helmed it and his restaurant business failed miserably as well. Shah Hakim was a very, very small timer before Scomi. Then, Petronas' contracts kicked in and Scomi was on its way up. Shell, Talisman and others are all bound by Petronas' criteria in awarding contracts, not much for competition. Most of its revenue from abroad? Since they count TNB contract as "overseas" (as the procurement and shipment of coal is from foreign countries, technically yeah), as well as Petronas' contracts in Central Asia, as well as SE Asia, maybe they are right in 80%... If they dare, let them publish how many contracts have been awarded to them overseas, other than from Petronas, TNB and their related companies? Pak Lah is insulting our intelligence day after day...

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  9. Anonymous1:32 am

    Of course Scomi has high profit margin. They get venders to make a agreement with Scomi as a agent and promise huge sales. After the vendor’s product is sold and money collected, the vender never gets paid. Makes sense to me on how to show growth and profit.
    Killing2birds1stone

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